Interactive Tournament: Lightweight Division Round One

Everybody likes tournaments: whether it's in hockey, football, or MMA, tournaments are always exciting to watch. Unfortunately, the UFC doesn't really offer any type of tournament. It could help them to determine a true number one contender for each division and create even more exciting events.

Here's where I got my idea to create an interactive tournament on Bleacher Report where the writers, readers and MMA fans will have their voices heard.

What is an interactive tournament?

The concept is actually pretty simple, a tournament will take place on B/R for each UFC weight classes. The top eight fighters for each division will be chosen to compete in a single elimination tournament where winners advance ans losers are out. Of course, champions are not allowed in the tournaments.

The top eight fighters are chosen from mmasurvival's UFC rankings. I will publish an article in which the eight fighters will fight for your votes. I will make the fights based on what I think are the best fights to be made. The readers will vote for a winner in each fight and whoever gets the most votes after a week, will advance. Another article will be published after that with the first round winners fighting in two fights and the readers will vote again and so on until one fighters is left in each division.

The last man standing will be the fighter that has received the most votes. Remember to vote for who you think would win the fight and not who you like better. Whoever wins in each division will be your no1 contender and will then challenge the champion in one final article at the end.

So just so it's clear, that makes three articles for each weight division (quarter finals, semi finals and finals). There are five divisions, so 15 articles will be written in the next 15 weeks.

So let's get started. I decided to start the interactive tournament with the lightweight division this week. The top eight fighters are: Nate Diaz, Tyson Griffin, Roger Huerta, Kenny Florian, Clay Guida, Frankie Edgar, Sean Sherk and Joe Stevenson.

Quarter Final Fight One: Tyson Griffin vs Joe "Daddy" Stevenson

Here it is, the first of four fights. This would actually be a very interesting fight considering both men are well rounded. Both men have a good wrestling base and aren't afraid to strike. Tyson Griffin may have a small advantage when it comes to the stand-up but submissions would have to go to Joe Stevenson who has proved that he has one of the most vicious guillotine chokes in the UFC.

Tyson Griffin has better cardio and would probably start to dominate more later in the fight but Joe Stevenson has proved he had heart and could take a beating. The question for this fight just might be, who can impose his will more?

Both fighters are considered to be top ten material but neither one of them has ever made it to the top. Stevenson received a title shot but was defeated by current champion BJ Penn. Griffin defeated the likes of Marcus Aurelio and Clay Guida but hasn't been able to make it against superior wrestlers Sean Sherk and Frankie Edgar.

In a fight opposing Tyson Griffin and Joe Stevenson, who is your pick to win it?

Quarter Final Fight Two: Nate Diaz vs Sean Sherk

Sean Sherk is the only man in the 8 fighters to ever hold the lightweight title. Sherk is an aggressive fighter who has shown time and time again he maybe had the best cardio in all the UFC. To add to that, he's a great wrestler and a pretty good striker.

Nate Diaz may not be considered by everybody to be good enough to enter this tournament, but he has proved many times he could come back from a beating and win. He's a constant worker who tries to lock in every single submission attempts he can. His striking ability has improved alot since TUF 5 and could possibly be a difficult challenge for Sherk considering his reach advantage.

Diaz is still undefeated in the UFC and Sean Sherk's only loss at lightweight is against the current champion BJ Penn. Sherk is without a doubt the stronger fighter but could he outstrike a man who has at least 4 inch reach advantage over him? and if Sherk takes Diaz down, Diaz could very well lock in a submission and win the fight.

Who do you think would win?

Quarter Final Fight Three: Clay Guida vs Kenny Florian 

Considered by many to be THE no1 contender right now for BJ Penn's title, Kenny Florian has dominated the lightweight division with a 9-2 UFC record and a victory in his last 6 fights. He is a very well-rounded fighter who has great BJJ and a very good stand-up ability. His ground and pound is also very devastating when you consider his razor sharp elbows that have cut open most of his opponents in the past.

Clay "The Carpenter" Guida is a little bulldozer. He has really good wrestling skills and a great cardio to add to that. As far as his style, I would say it resembles Sean Sherk's style, the last man to beat Kenny Florian. Guida has never made it against the top fighters he was put up against, but he always fought his heart out and maybe he has the style to beat Florian, a man who will push Kenny to the limit and win a decision.

Do you think Guida can pass through Kenny Florian?

Quarter Final Fight Four: "El Matador" Roger Huerta vs Frankie Edgar

This would be a great fight because I think Frankie Edgar is one of the most underrated fighters in all the UFC and Roger Huerta is one of the most beloved fighters in all of MMA. When Roger defeated Leonard Garcia in one of the most exciting fights I've seen, he became an instant star. He won his first six fights in the UFC defeating newcomer after newcomer until he fought Clay Guida. Huerta barely made it out of this fight, but pulled of a awesome win after having lost the first two rounds.

Roger Huerta was on top of the world but his victory over Clay Guida was the only big victory he had and when he was matched up with a true warrior, he was defeated by Kenny Florian.

Frankie Edgar isn't as popular as Roger Huerta and earned his respect the old fashioned way, by earning it and winning fights. A relatively small lightweight, some people think he would be better off fighting in the 145 pounds division. Still, Frankie Edgar is 4-1 in the UFC with victories against top fighters like Tyson Griffin, Spencer Fisher and Hermes Franca. His only UFC loss came to the hands of a bigger wrestler, Gray Maynard.

Edgar's wrestling ability is much better then Huerta's and he wouldn't be afraid to be tossed around  by a bigger and stronger fighter. As far as stand-up goes, I may give Huerta a small advantage.

A good wrestler has the ability to cancel a good striker's ability to strike, therefore, if Edgar can take Huerta to the ground, he can probably keep him there and pound on him until he wins a decision, but Roger Huerta has a lot of heart and can come back in the fight anytime and win in the end.

There you go, the quarter finals are set, the four first fights are taking place right now and the next article will be published next Sunday where the winners will fight in the semi finals.

** Remember to leave comments to vote for the fighter you think will win in each fight. Please let your voices be heard and leave your votes in the comment section within the next week. Thank You!